Black fungus tally rises to 24 in Goa, 10 deaths till date

PANAJI: Goa’s tally of Mucormycosis or black fungus cases has risen to 24 since cases were being reported last month. Ten people have died so far, including one death reported by the Goa Medical College (GMC) on Friday.
Most of the patients are treated at the GMC, with 14 active cases.
A patient who was admitted as a suspect was found to be negative for black fungus and was de-notified accordingly on Friday, a GMC doctor said.
A special ward for patients undergoing treatment for black fungus under an ENT surgeon has been set up at GMC. Goa, though has fewer cases compared to other states, the doctor said they are still worried as patients come with severe complications, and their diabetes level is also high, slowing down their recovery.
Most of the patients, he said, were referred to them after their recovery from Covid. The higher doses of steroids are suspected to have caused their present condition.
“Covid-19 has led to several complications in patients post their recovery or while recovering. Black fungus is one of the serious complications caused due to excessive use of steroids,” he said.
Experts have already warned that Covid patients shouldn’t be administered steroids during the initial period of the illness – the first five days - to avoid the adverse effects, more so for those who are diabetic. “When patients with uncontrolled diabetes are given steroids for an extended period, and without monitoring them, they face a grave risk of developing the black fungus infection. They can also get any other opportunistic infection. Also, the mortality rate is high,” he said.
A Covid patient having a high or uncontrolled diabetes, should not ignore nasal symptoms. Other symptoms that they may experience could be tooth pain, blurred vision, facial pain or headache.
During the first wave of the pandemic, Goa had hardly reported any cases of black fungus.